Murder charges stand against siblings accused of killing stepfather

SAN DIEGO – Murder charges will stand against a brother and sister accused of killing their stepfather during a phony home-invasion robbery, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Brae Hansen and Nathaniel Gann are scheduled to stand trial Aug. 20 for the July 19 shooting of Timothy MacNeil, 63.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Theodore Weathers also rejected a motion by defense lawyers to dismiss a special-circumstance allegation of lying in wait.

If proven at trial, the allegation means that Hansen, 18, would face a maximum penalty of life in prison without possibility of parole. Gann, 20, could face the death penalty or life in prison without parole.

District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis has yet to announce whether she will seek Gann's execution.

Deputy Public Defender Troy Britt, Hansen's attorney, unsuccessfully argued that incriminating statements Hansen made to police in initial interviews were made involuntarily and with the implied promise that she would not spend the rest of her life in prison if she cooperated.

Britt also said police violated Hansen's rights by not informing her biological father that she was being questioned. Hansen was 17 at the time.

Deputy District Attorney George Bennett said no promises were made to Hansen, and that when police first talked to her, they treated her as a victim of a home invasion and as a witness. It was only after police found inconsistencies in her statements that Hansen became a suspect, he said.

Gann's lawyer, Deputy Alternate Public Defender Richard Serif, said the murder charge against Gann should be dismissed because it was based largely on comments Hansen made to police which Serif said were uncorroborated and self-serving.

“She tries to lay the majority of the blame on Mr. Gann and take it away from herself,” Serif said.